The Oratorio Anthology: The Vocal Library Mezzo-Soprano/Alto

Lovely book of beautiful arias for mezzo voice. Also contains continuo music for some pieces. Lots to enjoy learning in this album!

This anthology contains most of the well-known mezzo/alto arias. The Messiah, Bach's Passions and Christmas Oratorio and the B minor Mass.It also includes the obligatos for violin and oboe. Very good value.

My daughter’s voice sits most comfortably in this range and she was looking for a collection of pieces she could sing - this fitted the bill perfectly and has a good variety of music.

This book contains wonderful arias for the low voice. It is clearly printed and wel presented. There are notes and (literal) translations in the front section. Contains many of my favourite arias from the CD 'Kathleen Ferrier - a Tribute'.

Good quality book, has translations for everything. There are a few “classics” missing but it’s a good addition to anyone’s library.

I am happy with this purchase. I only give it 4/5 because I would have liked to have seen a couple of other arias in the book which I'm disappointed weren't included but that's just personal preference. However, it's also drawn my attention to pieces that I didn't know before. Overall, this is a book worth having.

This excellent volume contains a full and varied representation of mezzo and alto arias from the following eighteenth and nineteenth century oratorios:Bach: Mass in B Minor, St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, Christmas OratorioDvorak: Stabat MaterHandel: Dixit Dominus, Judas Maccabaeus, MessiahHaydn: Stabat MaterMendelssohn: ElijahMozart: Mass in C MinorPergolesi: Stabat MaterPurcell: Te Deum LaudamusRossini: Messe Solemnelle, Stabat MaterVerdi: Messa di RequiemVivaldi: Gloria, MagnificatThe music is clearly laid-out, with English translations underneath the original language where appropriate, and both music and text are easy to read. However, they could have been more economical with the spacing and saved the pianist some page-turns: "Erbarme dich" takes up 8 pages, as opposed to 5 in the Novello Matthew Passion, even though the pages (A4) are larger than the Novello.The other place where this collection loses a mark is in the piano arrangements. I've seen better, although I've also seen much worse. Bach seems to be a black spot for piano reductions in particular, and I have given up trying to find really playable versions of his arias and started arranging my own. These are generally not too bad, but there are places where they don't give a very good indication of the orchestral version, and quite a few of the mistakes which plague such piano reductions, such as assuming that pianists can stretch two octaves with each hand, as well as one or two wrong notes. I would also quibble with some of the vocal parts: the Pergolesi "Fac ut portem", for instance, does not contain the trills which I believe are usually sung. However, one very good idea in this book is that where there are instrumental soloists for certain arias (e.g. the violin in "Erbarme dich" and the oboe d'amore in "Qui sedes"), their parts have been written out separately and may be cut out or photocopied if you wish to try playing with the solo instrumentalist as well.Another very useful feature of this volume is a section at the beginning which not only gives a little information on each oratorio, it also gives a literal translation of the non-English texts (as opposed to the singers' translations put in the actual pieces, which are the standard translations which rhyme, scan and so forth).There is an enormous amount of music in this book, and it saves buying (or photocopying from) 18 oratorios. The hundred pages of Bach alone make it worth the money, and there are some lesser-known gems in there as well, such as the exquisite Haydn "Fac me vere tecum flere".